Improvement in clothes-pins



G. K FARR|NGTON-& B. S. POTTER.

Clothes-Pin.

910,160,661 PatentedM arl ch9J875.

WITNESSES I nwmons xm afic J4 Q W I Attorneys THE GRAPHIC(IO-PHOTOrLlTiLSQ 8141 PARK PLAGE,N.Y.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFIGE.

GEORGE K. FARRINGTON AND BRADFORD S. POTTER, OF BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS;SAID FARRINGTON ASSIGNOR TO SAID POTTER.

IMPROVEMENT lN CLOTHES-PINS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 160,661, dated March 9,1875; application filed December 14, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE K. FARRING- TON and BRADFORD S. POTTER, ofBloomington, in the county of McLean and in the State of Illinois, havejointly invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clothes-Pins anddo hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of thisspecification.

Our invention relates to that class of clothespins which are composed oftwo clamps connected together and operated by means of a wire spring;and the nature of our invention consists in arranging the two clamps,each havin g a circular groove or mortise therein, for the purposeofretainingaspring-coil, and also having diagonal holes extending fromthe upper edge ofthe grooves through the clamps, for the pur pose ofinserting the arms of the spring-coil, said arms being crossed andshaped in such a manner that the pressure or relaxation of thespring-coil is brought to hear immediately over the clothes-line, andthereby securing the clamps firmly together, the grooved clamps, incombination with the spring-coil, forming a movable fulcrum, whereinthere is no fixed point of strain upon the coil, all as more fullyhereinafter set forth and claimed.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which our inventionappertains to make and use the same, we will now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the annexed drawing, in which-Figure 1 is a side view, and Fig. 2 a longitudinal section, of ourclothes-pin. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the clamps, and Fig.at shows the mode of constructing the wire spring. 7

A A represent the two clamps, and B the spring for connecting themtogether. The

clamps have their outer or lower ends beveled, as shown at c, to form aflaring mouth for the clothes-pin, and with transverse grooves b on theinner sides, to form the socket for the clothes'line. The clamps arealso provided on their inner sides with circular grooves or recesses d,for the reception of the coil of the spring. The spring B is made of asingle piece of wire, bent in center to form the coil f, and arms h hprojecting therefrom. The two arms h h are then crossed, as shown bydotted lines in Fig. 4, and passed through diagonal holes or, leadingfrom the grooves or recesses d through to the outside of the clamp. Thearms extend on the outer sides of the clamps beyond the line-socket b,and their ends 7; are bent into and fastened in the clamps.

By this construction a movable fulcrum is obtained, as well as a securefastening and directpressure of the clamps over the line, so that theclothes have very slight, if any, leverage on the spring.

We are fully aware that a clothes-pin having jaws which are controlledby a coil-spring set in a slot in the jaws, which latter have anindependent fulcrum, is not new.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, with the clamps A A, having inclined slots a: w andgrooves cl d, of the coiled spring B, forming the fulcrum for theclamps, and having its ends crossed and extending through the slots atas, the tips of the wire being bent and pointed to catch into notchesformed on the exterior front portion of the clamps, all substantially asset forth.

In testimony that we jointly claim the foregoing we have hereunto setour hands this 5th day of November, 1874.

GEORGE K. FARRINGTON. BRADFORD S. POTTER.

Witnesses:

THos. SLADE, GEORGE P. GILL.

